Weekend Getaway

Now that school is out and the schedule is a little more flexible, we decided to ride along with Tyler on his business trip last week. As he usually leaves town a couple of times a month, it was a treat NOT to get left behind for once! Plus, I think that we have a new appreciation for all the driving Ty does when he is out of town. Anyway, we thought leaving for our "adventure" on Lily's birthday was perfect timing, so last Thursday off we went. We left Thursday morning and headed west on I-70. Our first stop was Edwards, in the Vail area, then on to Grand Junction for another appointment. After that we headed to Montrose for one more appointment, then on to Durango for the night. Phew! See what I mean about all the driving? In order to get to Durango, we had to go over Red Mountain Pass, which he does a lot these days but I have never done. WOW! What a view. It is absoutely breathtaking. I don't know what took my breath away more, the views or the fact that I am apparently more afraid of heights than I realized, and the road runs right on the side of the mountain with a sheer drop off and no guard rail! He wanted to pull off to the side and take a picture of the kids by a waterfall, and I said NO WAY! I know, I'm a chicken! When we got to Durango we celebrated Lily's birthday at Applebee's. She was thrilled to tell our waitress that it was her birthday, who then made sure that everybody sang happy birthday to her.

Friday morning Tyler had some appointmens in and around Durango, so the kids and I headed to the hotel pool for a morning swim.

Then we got showered and dressed and headed out for a "hike". The Animas River Trail ran right behind our hotel, so we loaded the stroller and off we went! The scenery was beautiful, and Hunter was disappointed when Lily got worn out and it was time to turn back.

Then it was time to load up again and head for more appointments in Telluride. Once Tyler was done with work for the day, we ventured up the hill to ride the Gondola between Mountain Village and Telluride. It is also a beautiful view, and the kids loved it. I was surprised, but the one who had the most fun was Sophie. She asked to ride the "gonnola" all weekend!

(Notice the St. Sophia. Obviously not named after anyone we know!)

The elevation at the highest point of the Gondola ride

We spent the night on Friday night in Montrose, and then Saturday morning headed to Ouray, the "Switzerland of America". It is a beautiful little town nestled right between the mountains. We headed first to the Bachelor Syracuse Mine, where we hoped to do a mine tour, but the equipment was broken so we decided to pan for gold instead. Hunter and Lily had a good time, and we spent most of our time trying to keep Sophie from falling in!

Before we left Ouray we headed up to Box Canyon Falls, where you can take a short hike right back to the waterfall. It was so cool to walk around the side of the mountain and hear the water roaring down through the crevice.

We walked along the scaffolding and then down five stories into the gorge. I have already metioned my phobia of heights, and couldn't believe I walked down all those stairs! It was really fascinating and beautiful though!

The view of Ouray from up near the Falls

We arrived home late Saturday night dirty and exhausted, but full of fun times and good memories. Thanks for letting us tag along Daddy! Let's do it again sometime!

Yummy!

OK, so here is the recipe for the baked oatmeal that I was talking about in Sophie's birthday post. It is SOOO good, and also very easy. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for it, I just stole it from Allie. Thanks for sharing all your great recipes Allie! Without further ado...

Amish Baked Oatmeal
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

warm milk
fresh fruit, optional
brown sugar, optional

Combine the first eight ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread evenly into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Immediately spoon in into bowls and add warm milk. Top with fresh fruit and/or brown sugar if desired.

NOTE: We usually double this recipe to feed our family with a little left over. It will still all fit into one 9x13, and you don't really need to adjust the cooking time. If you like oatmeal, you will LOVE this!

Happy Birthday Lily Bug!

Last Thursday was our Lily Bug's fifth birthday! We celebrated on the road on a business trip with dad, and Lily had a great time blowing out the candle on her chocolate mousse dessert at Applebee's! What a joy Lily is to have around! She has really grown up in the last few months, and is all ready to start school in the fall. I couldn't help but spend a few minutes on her birthday thinking about the rough start that she had in life, and marveling at how far she has come. I really have to think hard to remember the baby girl who spent her first eight days in the NICU with a feeding tube through her nose and down her throat, looking so frail in the warmer and pulling so hard to take every breath. Now she is a beautiful five year old who never stops. She is our renaissance woman, enjoying so many different things. She is determined to try and keep up with her brother, and asked me recently at one of Hunter's baseball games if she could play softball next year and get a pink glove. That's my well rounded girl!! We are so blessed to have Lily in our family. We love you lots girl!!

A Curious Birthday Party

Curious George that is!! Since Lily and Sophie have birthdays only six days apart, we decided to combine their birthdays into one grand party this year. The one party theme that they could agree on was Curious George, so we had a monkey filled party! (Sophie loves Curious George, and we often joke that Sophie and George are kindred spirits, as they are both naughty monkeys!) Anyway, we celebrated on Sophie's birthday, which was the only day for weeks that we could actually have all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, nana, papa, and grandma all in the same place at the same time.

The Party Girls! Of course, they are both decked out in PINK!

Monkey cupcakes! I am "cake retarded", but I even thought these turned out pretty well!

Blowing out her candles

Sophie was, not surprisingly, very into opening her presents!

A big pile pf presents for two little girls! Thanks for all the thoughtful gifts, fam!!

Happy Birthday Little Sophie Sunshine!

Just over a week ago, our baby girl turned two! I know it's cliche, but I just can't believe how time has flown by. Sophie has changed so much, even just in the last few weeks. She is my "Little Sophie Sunshine", (which is a good thing, since if she wasn't sunny and wonderful, her antics would have killed me by now!) Sophie's birthday started off with her favorite breakfast, baked oatmeal. (That's definitely a recipe to share, so let me know if you want it!)
Here's the birthday girl! The last two years with Sophie have been a whirlwind. She was such a quiet, sweet, mellow, easy baby. We should've known then that we were in for it! I love Sophie because every day with her is a new adventure. I have never known a kid who could find so many ways to get in trouble, and look so dang cute while she's doing it. Sophie has started talking up a storm, and her "conversations" are delightful. Sophie has brought excitement and wonder to our family, and we are so grateful to have her. We love you Sophie!

Summer Craziness!

This summer is flying by like no other has. I haven't even had two minutes to blog, which is what I usually do instead of cleaning my house! ;) So that means I am behind on blogging, and you don't even want to see the house. So hang in there over the next few days as I make an attempt to catch up on the events of our lives over the past few weeks. It's been CrAzY!!

A dream is a wish...

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

I found this on a friends blog, (thanks Sam!) and let's be honest, who doesn't want to be a princess? Let me know which princess you are! Click here!

Play ball!

Hunter is playing baseball this summer for the first time. He had his first game last week. Here's what he says about it:

"We won the game! I got a new glove. It has Carlos Zambrano's signature on it. I got on base three out of four times. Every time it was a single. We get to switch positions almost every inning. The positions I got to play were center field, pitcher, and right field. When I was in the outfield, nobody hit the ball to the outfield. But when I was the pitcher, they hit it to me twice. We scored a lot of runs, but I don't know how many. We got hats with our jerseys, but the coach and the parents didn't like them.

The coach asked the parents if they would buy Rockies hats, but some of the kids still asked him for the green hats because they thought they were cool. I thought they were cool too. So, since we have Rockies hats our team name is the Rockies! Once during practice, we were practicing running the bases and coach was timing us, and I got around all the bases and back to home plate in ten seconds. That was the fastest time that anyone got. I hope that we can go undefeated, and I hope there is some kind of chamopinship that we can play in and win!"

After the game. I noticed the dirt on his new baseball pants, but didn't remember a slide during the game. I asked him about it and he said, "Mom, I can't go home with shiny clean baseball pants!" Ya, that would be terrible!

Candy!!!!!!

The week after preschool graduation, Lily and her preschool friends got to go on a field trip to the CANDY FACTORY! As you can imagine they were very excited, even before the sugar ingestion began. But the free samples didn't hurt! Here is a recap of the trip, in Lily's own words:

"When we got there, we colored while we waited, and we wore a candy hat. Teacher Lori gave us a piece of candy while we waited. We went on a candy tour in the candy factory. I saw people making candy, and we got to watch a movie and saw how they made some candy. I saw people making candy canes. I ate two more pieces of candy that were samples. One was like a carmel and one was just a piece of candy but it was PINK! There were three pieces, a purple piece, a yellow piece, and a pink piece, and I chose the pink piece. At the end, we bought a candy stick in the store, and then we went home."